Shaw offensive coordinator
Fred Farrier was selected to participate in the NCAA’s Coaches
Academy. The
NCAA administers the NCAA Coaches Academy with support from the
American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), the Black Coaches
Association (BCA) and the National Football League (NFL).
The academy is designed to address the lack of ethnic
minorities in the football coaching ranks.
He was one of 20 applicants selected, which were selected
from all conferences across the nation.
“It’s a tremendous honor to be selected to this prestigious
program,” said Farrier. “In
this business, the ultimate goal is to become a head coach at a
Division I-A program.”
The objectives of the
academy are to: to increase the understanding and application of
skills necessary to secure head coaching positions; to increase
the understanding and awareness of competencies necessary for
success in head coaching at the intercollegiate level; to
motivate assistant coaches and coordinators to pursue careers as
head coaches at the Division I-A level; to introduce ethnic
minority coaches to senior-level coaches and administrators
through a mentoring program; to raise public awareness of the
existing talent pool of ethnic minority coaches; and to promote
the coaching profession to student-athletes, graduate assistants
and others.
Farrier, 32, is in his first
season as offensive coordinator.
Prior to coming to Shaw he was the wide receiver coach
and the recruiting coordinator at Tennessee Tech University.
He joined the Tech coaching staff shortly before the 2001
season to work with the team's receivers and had a huge impact
on the record-setting success of the Golden Eagle passing game
for two seasons. In
his three seasons at Tech, Farrier helped the Golden Eagle
offense establish 29 school records with standout receivers such
as Derek Lee, Antonio Carter, Anton Thomison, Tedarrell Scott
and Stevland Sills. During
his tenure at Tech, receivers posted nine 100-yard games.
Farrier’s coaching career
began at Michigan State, where he served two seasons as a
graduate assistant coach. He coached the wide receivers in 1998
and 1999 under head coach Nick Saban, now head coach of the 2004
co-National Champions LSU Tigers.
While at Michigan State he worked with current NFL
standout Plaxico Burris.
Fred moved to Saginaw Valley
State University after the 1999 season to become recruiting
coordinator and to coach the receivers.
Farrier's knowledge of the
game is also well documented, including two published articles
in Coach & Athletic Director magazine.
Blocking With A Purpose was published in
September 2002 and Winning At The Line Of Scrimmage: 5 Steps
To Beating Press Coverage was published in April 2003.
Farrier was again published in the Black Coaches
Association Journal in January of 2004. The article was titled, Professional Development: 10 Steps
To Develop Better Coaches.
During his collegiate
playing career, Farrier earned two letters as a wide receiver at
the College of the Holy Cross. The Crusaders posted an 11-0 mark
in 1991, while garnering the East Coast Athletic Conference Team
of the Year Award and sporting a 20-game winning streak from
1990 through 1991. Farrier played basketball for two seasons and
received his bachelor's degree in economics and accounting in
1994.
Farrier is married to the former Danita Cannon of Cleveland, OH and they have one son, Fred II (1).
